How To Find Product Review Opportunities

After a few days of guest posters, you’re stuck with me again for our very.last.post.

Some of you may have a goal of monetizing your blog – or at least to get some free stuff to justify all of the work you put into it.

For those of you newer to blogging, you may see lots of other bloggers doing giveaways, writing reviews, talking about how they were “presented with a unique opportunity to try out such-and-such.” It seems as though they are all part of some supersecret special inner circle that you’re not.

But it’s actually pretty easy to get in on this game if you want to. Now, I don’t want my blog to be all about giveaways and reviews. But I like doing them under the right circumstances. So here are ten great resources to help you connect with companies who have a story to tell. It’s in no way a comprehensive list, but it’s a good launching point!

Ten Great Resources for Getting Product Review Opportunities!

Pitch It To Me: this is a Ning site that connects PR companies and bloggers. It’s also a blogger community site, so you can list giveaways, ask questions, find blogger-friendly companies to work with, and much more.

POP Alerts at MomFuse: MomFuse is an online magazine and resource area for moms. They offer information, giveaways, free samples, and more. Their POP Alerts system lets you sign up to receive email notifications of new PR pitches that MomFuse receives from blogger-friendly companies.

MamaBzz: hooks up mom bloggers with product blog tours. This site focuses primarily on books and children’s products. The “blog tours” are done online, with several bloggers posting reviews of a product on the same day.

The Product Review Place: this Ning site not only exposes you to PR pitches, but they provide places to post giveaways, memes, and ask for follow for a follow, if you’re into that sort of thing. PRP is a very large and active site and you can have emails sent to you when new pitches are posted.

Business 2 Blogger: this site allows you to sign up to receive email notifications of new PR pitches, some of which are paid, and others where you would receive a product sample. The opportunities range from books to baby products to Etsy items and more.

Twitter Moms: TwitterMoms has lots of resources to connect bloggers with each other, and they also have a RAMBO alert, which is a notification service of upcoming review opportunities, benefit programs for mom bloggers, Twitter parties, or opportunities of special or economic interest.

BzzAgent: allows you to participate in brand review opportunities and talk about your experiences via social media networks. These opportunities are not paid, but you often receive product samples. There are also no requirements that you post on your blog. In fact, many of the reviews that are written reside on BzzAgent’s site.

Buzz Paradise: this site also connects bloggers with brands and allows bloggers to try out brands and products via a variety of activities including samples, participation in events, and the like. There are also opportunities for paid reviews.

SocialSpark: SocialSpark is a paid posting and product service for bloggers. They have specific link and posting requirements and if you meet the requirements and are accepted into the opportunity, you get paid.

If you know of others that you’d like to tell others about, please leave a comment here!

As I get further into this bloggy thing, I see so many aspects of it that tie back not only to marketing, but specifically marketing research. And that’s what I did before I had kids. All these brand and product reviews (and things like CrowdTap) are the latest and greatest version of ways companies are conducting marketing research.liz´s last blog post ..Becoming Mom Sexy and an Exercise in Keyword Spam

it’s hard to explain. But basically you answer a bunch of market research questions and earn points. As you earn points, you move up levels. As you move up levels, theoretically you’re supposed to get exposure to product/brand campaigns, opportunities to try things out, etc.

Hmm, I am going to have to bookmark this post. I feel the same way as you do- I don’t do a lot of sponsored stuff, but I’m not against doing the occasional giveaway, as long as it is a good fit for my blog.

As always, interesting stuff to know and learn. I wish I had the time to really delve in.

You’ve done beyond a great job with the B2S/B2B challenge, Gigi…you really have. And I know that if any blogger is faithful to ALL the info. you’ve given us, that their blog will be at a different level by now.

That’s what it’s there for! = a resource list should you ever need it! thanks for coming by! I have just started to get back into reading blogs after this big 6 week challenge and yours is on my list for a visit!

I’ve been doing BzzAgent for 6 years, though. Way before I was blogging or involved in any form of social media. You just report on any talking you do of the product- even *gasp* face-to-face. I’ve done a few blog posts for them, but only b/c I LOVED a product and wanted to share. I love having the freedom to post if I want and not if I don’t.